Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: Active Colitis

Question:
I come with an eleventh hour question about the enhanced risk, related to P.E.T. scanning (whole body), for a patient with active state of ulcerative colitis.  As a breast cancer survivor, a recent visit to my oncologist has resulted in a scheduled P.E.T. scan (6-8).  The procedure description, provided to patients, reports an initial injection of radio-labeled glucose, one hour prior to scan.  The relative dosage is described as comparable to 3 x-rays.  If the patient's colitis were quiescent, the patient would not have overburdening uncertainty about whether the risk involved, for such a scan, was a 'reasonable' risk. However, it would seem that, in the active state of ulcerative colitis, where tissue repair is very active, with many cell divisions, the risks, related to radiation exposure, are magnified to an unacceptable level. Since patients experiencing chronic ulcerative colitis already have an elevated risk for the development of colon cancer, it would seem that the additional risk, associated with radiation exposure, should probably be limited, wherein possible, to times of least risk, i.e. when patients are not experiencing active disease.

Answer:
The radiation dose of one chest x-ray is aprox equal to the radiation dose of flying from coast to coast. (Most people don't realize that being that much closer to the sun results in radiation exposure, FYI I'm a medical imaging technologist, x-ray tech for short) It's all relative. The question to also ask is cost vs. benefit? What information do you hope to gain and will it affect any course of treatment? If the treatment course stays the same, why do the test?